Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Raised by Smith Thornton Advisors LLC

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,639 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.0% of Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $598,149,304. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 246,150 shares of company stock worth $55,805,379 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $281.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $291.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $244.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.68.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. China Renaissance raised their target price on Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Melius Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Loop Capital raised their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.98.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.